Ethical Policy

Our Authors, and our Editorial Staff are required to hold themselves to the standards expected of contributors to academic peer-reviewed Journals. Specifically, we draw attention to the following:

1. Plagiarism is not allowed – the amount of quoted text must not exceed 10% of the overall submission. All quoted text must be properly referenced or cited.

2. Submissions must not have been published elsewhere, nor submitted for publication elsewhere.

3. Co-authors – those who have contributed to the text, or the process of preparing the work upon which the text is based, are to be credited as co-authors and referenced.

4. Any conflicts of interest must be disclosed at the time of submission.

5. All sources of financial support must be disclosed – for example grants, bursaries, scholarships etc.

6. Peer Reviewing will be done anonymously.

7. The Journal will not publish any submission which contains material that appears to be slander, libel, plagiarism, or seems to represent other copyright infringements.

8. The Journal publishes materials based solely on academic merit, with no regard nor discrimination whatsoever on the basis of gender, race, faith, colour, or any other criteria for differentiating one person from another.

9. The Journal will not publish politically motivated commentary on Russian – or any other – legislation, or domestic or foreign affairs. The Journal will however – if relevant - publish legally argued alternative points of view to legislation, domestic or foreign affairs.

10. The Editorial Staff will not allow any inducements to influence publication.

11. Peer Review will be done by academically qualified persons, but their identity will remain confidential to the Editorial Staff. In the interests of furthering academic debate, the Editor will – if he deems it reasonable – facilitate communication on an anonymous basis between an author and a peer reviewer. Peer reviewers are required to be objective and prompt, and provide meaningful academic standard review of the papers submitted to them.